Chasing LilyFlower
by theotherweasley
Summary: Lily was dreading arriving at King's Cross, but for some reason, she couldn't remember why... following Lily and the Marauders through their last year at hogwarts
1. A Long Train Ride

**Chasing Lily-Flower**

**Chapter One: A Very Long Train Ride**

Lily's POV:

I don't know why, but for some reason I had been dreading getting to the station.

My summer had gone well, or at least not too badly. Mainly I hung around the house, watching TV and reading. Petunia completely ignored me for two months…not that I'm complaining. I can't wait to talk to my school friends again! And I can do magic again! I had to spend the entire summer actually walking over to the remote to get it. Hmmm…. Why was I dreading Kings Cross so much then?

"LILY!" screamed James at the top of his lungs, over the entire crowd of people.

Oh yeah, that's why. Oh god, I was so hoping he had found himself another girl over the break, he snogs enough of them! Why, oh why god has he chosen me? ME! What have I ever done, why do I deserve- oh crap he's here!

"Lily flower, how are you?" he asked with a huge, cocky grin.

"I was fine up until around thirty seconds ago" I said

"Oh, are you not feeling well now?" my god, he so oblivious! He actually thinks I'm sick! Can't he tell I'm just sick of him! The idiot still doesn't get I hate him, and I've only told him about 300 times!

"Oh look, there's Sirius! SIRIUS!" James shouts even louder than before.

"YEAH MATE?" The second idiot shouts back. What is wrong with these people? If you want to have a conversation, it would probably be a good idea to get within 20 feet of each other! Oh no, I didn't mean that, stay over there! Or better yet, Potter can go join him way at the other end of the station….ah, too late, here he comes.

"Prongs, Lily" Sirius says, all the while staring at me, or more precisely, my chest.

"Ow! Oh, sorry prongs." He says after James elbows him. I hope it was hard, but why the hell is he apologizing to James and not to me, who he was gawking at! James grunts something along the lines of _never do it again_ and Sirius nods quickly.

"Well, if you'll excuse me…I'm just gonna…go over there now…" I say slowly as I attempt to back away, unfortunately, the train station is so crowded I end up tripping on some bloke's foot behind me, and falling and the ground. Hard.

"Oh! Lily, are you alright!" a voice says, and it's surprisingly sincere. I look up expecting to see James staring at me, but instead it was Sirius face just inches from mine. He grabs my arm and pulls me up toward him. This would have been a great time to not be the most uncoordinated and ungraceful person ever, but unfortunately that is a trait I can't escape, and just as I get back on my feet, I lose balance again, and fall against Sirius. He wraps an arm around my waist, to hold me up. Wow, this is…odd. James looks as though he trying to set fire to Sirius with his eyes. I looked up into Sirius's face, which is hard as I'm a good six inches shorter, 5'5 to his 6'1, and mutter something that hopefully sounded like thank you. He smiles down at me, then quickly realized what had just happened, and jumped away from me as if I was contagious. He looked over at James, his ghost white face a funny contrast to James's bright red. Well…this is awkward.

James's POV:

I cannot believe him! What the bloody hell was he thinking! Lily, MY LILY, fell over, and just as I went to help her, he pushed me out of the way! He was practically groping her, attempting to 'help her up' he kept insisting. If he wasn't my best mate, he would be in a body bag right about now. And now I have to sit with him the entire way to school! I've only just realized how small these compartments are. Remus and Peter look very confused, don't they? I guess they are trying to figure out why I'm glaring at Sirius, while he stares out the window blankly.

"So… how was everyone's summer?" asks Peter meekly. I turn my glare to him, and he sinks back into his chair, not likely to say anything for the rest of the train ride.

"Chocolate frog, anyone?" Remus asks. I was going to glare at him, too, but I decided I really did want a chocolate frog. He threw one over to me; I had to catch it before it attempted frog suicide and jumped out the window.

"Sirius? Did you want one?" Remus asked, hoping to get a reaction from Sirius, who hadn't spoken once yet.

"Oh no, Remus, Sirius is fine. He'll probably just steal mine later!"

"Don't worry! We have enough for everyone!" Peter said happily. God, he's stupid. As usual, everyone just ignored him.

"Shut up prongs! I didn't steal anything from you!" shouted Sirius, then he actually had the nerve to mutter "It's not like you actually have anything to steal" under his breath, like he thought no one could hear him. Does he have a death wish, or is he just that stupid!

"Didn't steal anything? WHAT ABOUT LILY!" I yelled at him. Remus and Peter just looked more confused, and Sirius looked almost scared.

"James, you know I would never make a move on Lily." He replied, but very quietly.

"Well, that would be a lot easier to believe if you hadn't all but made out with her at the train station!"

"Oh, please, stop whining! All I did was help her up!"

Sirius's POV:

I almost felt the need to mention that she had fallen over by trying to get away from him in the first place, but as he was now practically shaking with anger, I decided to keep that particular comment to myself.

"James, I'm sorry if my helping Evans off the ground offended you in any way. In the future, should a fellow student fall, I swear I will leave them on the ground to be trampled." I answered, slightly more coldly than I mean to.

"Would anyone care to fill us in?" asked Remus, with a very bemused expression. When no one answered him, he just started a conversation with Peter about something.

This is going to be a long train ride.

Lily's POV:

It's been almost an hour since the train left Kings Cross. Almost an hour since I had run into James, and fallen into Sirius. And every second since I had gotten on the train had been spent in complete silence. Now, that could be because I was alone in the compartment with Severus Snape, who divided his time between reading and staring out the window; or it could be because I kept staring off into space, thinking about Sirius. My thoughts were along the lines of: _does Sirius like me? Why would he like me? He can't, his best friend likes me. Do I like him? NO! Lily, no! You DO NOT fancy Sirius Black! __But what if he likes me? Why would he like me? _And then it began again. Over, and over and just when I thought I had thought about it enough, I thought about it some more. And for some reason, one name kept popping back into my head; James. And I couldn't for the life of me figure out why I felt guilty. I hadn't done anything, I mean, it's not like we started snogging right there at the station. Plus, it's not like I owed James anything! It's not like Potter and I were going out, we weren't even friends! Then why was it, exactly, that I felt so guilty for Black helping me up. Maybe, just maybe, it was James's look when Sirius smiled at me, his face when his best friend's arms were around me, James looked devastated, like his heart had just been torn out, stomped on, then thrown under the train.


	2. The Post Arrives

**Chapter 2: The Post Arrives**

Remus's POV: 

"Sirius, you need to tell me what is going on. You and James have never not talked to each other for more than an hour, and that was when you crashed his broom into a tree. This cannot be that bad! You need to tell me what's going on, and you need to tell me _now_!" I said, attempting to sound menacing, but failing miserably.

"Ok, fine, Remus, I'll tell you, but if you so much as mutter one word of this, to anyone, _especially _James, I will murder you, and not even magically, I'll find some horribly painful muggle way. Alright?"

"Um…er…Alright…" I replied, starting to regret asking him.

"I, um, well you see, I, er…IwassortofhuggingLilyandnowJamesthinksIlikeher." He said, faster than I have ever heard another human speak. I had to replay his words three times in my head, once to understand him, and two more times to grasp what he was saying.

"Um, ok….do you?" I asked slowly, dreading his answer.

"No! Of course not!" he replied quickly; very quickly.

"Then what were you doing hugging her? And she let you? She won't even let James touch her books, let alone her."

"I don't know, exactly. You see, she fell over at the station, and I went to help her up. And I guess James thinks I was trying to steal her away from him, just because I was smiling at her. He completely overreacted." Sirius told me.

"Well, go apologize." I told him.

"Why should I! I haven't done anything wrong!"

"Look, we both know that when it comes to Lily, James is completely delusional. So, you had better go apologize to him, unless you want you entire friendship ruined because of a hug that meant nothing to you." I said as I went off to bed.

Sirius's POV:

Remus was right. He's always right. I have to find James, and apologize, and I would, as soon as I could get Remus's words out of my head. _It was just a hug, it meant nothing. _Well…at least the first part was true.

I practically ran all the way back to the dorms. I spotted James on the stairs, headed toward the Head Tower,

"James, look mate, I'm really sorry about the train station. I was just helping Lily off the ground, but I know I should have let you do that. I was, however, in no way attempting to steal her from you." I panted, as I had just run up numerous flights of stairs.

James hesitated for a bit, before answering me.

"Listen, Sirius, I'm sorry about how I acted, I did overreact, I just can't stand to see someone else's- anyone else's- arms on Lily."

"You don't think I know that?" I joked "I was there the day in fourth year, when you overheard Davey Gudgeon asking Lily to go to Hogsmeade with him. Why couldn't he go on that date again, James?" I asked, as if I could ever forget.

"Hmmm, I'm not sure, although it might have had something to do with his all of his toes falling off for no apparent reason." James laughed. I got James to laugh! So he wasn't going to murder me! He's happy, at least for now.

James's POV:

Finally, after hours of clapping for the new Gryffindors at the feast, I got to go to my dorm, and not just any dorm, I got to go to the heads dorms, because I, the one and only James Potter was now Hogwarts Head Boy! When I got on the train, I was technically supposed to meet the new head girl, however, in my anger, I completely forgot. Well, in any case, I'm going to meet her now.

I got to the portrait in the entrance, and I realized that I didn't know the password; I guess was supposed to learn it on the train. Ok, well, I guess I could just try to guess a few until the Head Girl gets here. If Dumbledore had chosen it, it probably had something to do with candy.

"Ok…Acid Pops? Chocolate frog? Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans? Open? Please!"

I suddenly heard a laugh from behind me. It was a very pretty laugh, and I knew exactly who it belonged to, Lily Evans. But why is Evans here? This could only mean…

"Evans, are you the new Head Girl?" I said, trying not to sound too excited.

"Yes, and you would know that if you had bothered to go to the heads compartment on the train!" She said angrily, she's so cute when she's angry.

"Gillyweed." Lily said to the picture, which swung open to reveal a huge common room, with two leather couches, a large fireplace, several paintings around the room, and two large desks, both beneath one of the two large windows, overlooking the forest. On both sides of the room were two large stone stairways, each leading to the heads private dorms. The doors at the top of the stairs led to our rooms.

I watched Lily walk into her room, and decided to follow her. The first thing I saw was a huge bed with four mahogany posts and a silk canopy. She also had a very large bookshelf, another desk, and a door leading to a bathroom done almost entirely in marble.

"Wow, this is amazing; I think they gave you the good room." I told her. She looked startled at first, and angry with me for sneaking into her room, but I guess she couldn't stay angry for too long, as she was far too excited with her new room.

"I know, isn't it wonderful!" she said, looking like she was about to hug me, of course that could be just wishful thinking.

"The bathrooms are nice, but I still think I'm going to use the prefects' bath now and then." She told me, I made a mental note of that. I left her room quickly, so she wouldn't have a chance to find a reason to yell at me. I went off to my dorm and went to sleep.

Lily's POV:

I woke up, and it took me a minute to realize where I was. I cannot believe I was actual Head Girl, and I got to sleep in the Heads dorms! It was almost enough to make me look past the fact that Dumbledore could not have picked a more irresponsible, arrogant Head Boy; almost. I walked downstairs into the common room, where James was waiting on the couch.

"Good morning Lily, are you ready to go to breakfast?" he asked me. Had James actually waited for me to go to the Great Hall?

"I have been waiting for you to get up." Is he reading my mind?

"Alright, let's go then." I said, unenthusiastically.

When we arrived at the Great Hall, it appeared that the post was just arriving. My owl, Izzy, was flying toward me. It dropped a small letter on the table in front of me. I slowly picked it up, wondering who would be writing to me already; I have only been at school for a day. My hands shook as I read:

_Lily, I regret to inform you that some of your lot, I believe you call them death eaters, broke into our house last night, and killed mother and father. They left both of us the house, but I don't expect or particularly want you to come home, so Vernon and I will be living here, or we shall sell the house and move in together. I believe this, Lily, is goodbye. Do not attempt to contact me again. _

_Petunia_

I burst into tears, not caring that I was in the middle of a very crowded room, and that I usually made sure no one saw me cry. I dropped the note on the desk, and ran up to my dorm, not planning on coming out for several days.

James's POV:

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. We had just witness _the_ Lily Evans break down in the middle of the Great Hall. Needless to say, we all reached for her letter.

I was sad, concerned, and furious, all at once. What kind of person could do that to their sister? To any other human being? I had often heard Lily complain about Petunia, but I never thought she could rival Sirius's family. This, of course, was only half of the anger I felt, the rest being directed at the source of the entire mess, of Lily's family, and so many others; Voldemort. He was the reason that countless witches, wizards, and muggles alike were being killed every day. He was the reason Lily was in so much pain, and he would pay, for all of it. I went upstairs to check on Lily, and brought some breakfast for her, not sure if she would actually eat any.


	3. An Unexpected Visit

_I realized I haven't put a disclaimer, so just in case you were wondering. I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters, but a girl can dream_

_Special thanks to my beta Krystal, without her half the story would be spelt wrong. Also a huge thanks to all four of my reviewers, I'm so glad you like it! And I would also like to apologize for the wait, I was on vacation, but I hope the saying 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' is true in this case, and you all like this chapter._

_----------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

**Chasing Lily-Flower**

**Chapter Three: An Unexpected Visit**

Lily's POV:

James Potter is bloody persistent. If, for some reason if I was unaware of that fact after seven years of being forced to coexist with him, I now know just how relentless he can be. He has been standing outside my door for nearly two hours, just waiting for me to either let him in, or for me to come outside, or so he can just sit there, I'm not really sure.

In any case, I feel slightly guilty; after all, he did miss most of breakfast, and all of Defense against the Dark Arts, his favorite class, just sitting out there. I guess it's time I let him in. I grudgingly got out from under my protective shelter of bed sheets and pulled my wand of my nightstand and opened the door, before retreating back under the covers.

"Lily?" James called from the doorway.

I poked my head above the covers, knowing full well that I probably looked like Myrtle's long lost twin sister, with mascara running down my cheeks and my hair shooting out of my ponytail in random places. James just walked slowly over to me, sat down on my bed beside me and picked me up in his arms, covers and all. It was as if I weighed nothing, he simply pulled me into his lap and help me so tightly. I had no idea something as simple as that could make me feel even remotely better. He wiped the tears off my cheeks, and tucked a bit of my unruly hair behind my ear. It was the kind of scene from a sappy romance novel, only instead of the gorgeous princess-like heroine; I was the revolting mascara-soaked orphan girl. James and I just sat there for what felt like hours, and even though I knew I was destroying my hope of a seven year long record of perfect attendance, I couldn't bring myself to care.

Sirius's POV:

I was sitting between Moony and Prongs waiting for Lily to come downstairs for breakfast. No one had seen her since breakfast yesterday, except for James. He had told us what the letter had said, but didn't say too much else. After about 20 minutes of waiting, I decided Lily probably wasn't going to come downstairs at all again today; but she must be starving by now, after being holed up in her dorm since yesterday morning. I decided I was going to bring her up some food. I grabbed a plate with some bacon, eggs, and toast, and managed to slip away from the crowded Gryffindor table unnoticed, while they all discussed the first quidditch match of the year against Slytherin.

I got to the portrait in front, and I was glad James had told me the password. "Gillyweed." I said quickly, and the portrait swung open, but reluctantly, it unsure of why anyone but a head would go into the dorms.

I walked almost silently up to Lily's room. I knocked twice on the door, and then opened it. I saw lily lying on her side facing away from me, staring out the window, apparently lost in thought. I was starting to think that maybe this wasn't the best idea; I have absolutely no idea what to say; so I just walk over and sit down beside her. I stare out the window as well.

"Nice view." I say, which tears her from her dream-like trance. She turns her intense gaze toward me.

"I brought you some food, in case you were hungry." She looked like she was going to decline, Lily was the last person to take pity from anyone, but instead she chose to grab a piece of bacon off the plate. Apparently her hunger had beat out her resolve.

"Consider it a peace offering, and olive branch of sorts." I told her quietly.

"I know me and you didn't get along so well last year" she scoffed "Ok, so, we didn't get along at all"

She raised an eyebrow "Ok fine, so some of the pranks we pulled on you may have landed you in the hospital wing a few times, but never intentionally!" I said. "But if you need someone to talk to, I'll always be here to listen. I know a lot about losing families, and of course about evil siblings." I told her truthfully. I grabbed her hand, and held it tightly, to let her know she was still connected to people, people who wanted to see her recover from this. She put her other hand on top of mine, and whispered quietly "thank you" before falling back asleep.

I stood slowly and made my way over to the door, closing it as quietly as I could behind me, and I slowly made my way to transfiguration.

Remus's POV:

"Hey Moony, what are you doing?"

"Well, I _was _attempting to copy down the transfiguration notes." I snapped to the increasingly more annoying Sirius to my left. I don't know why, but Professor McGonagall seemed to think that I had some control over the other Marauders, and insisted on seating me beside them in class.

"If you aren't going to pay attention, at least leave me alone to get the notes so you can copy them later." I told him. Sometimes, I don't know why I do my friends school work for them, but then again if it weren't for me, they would probably have flunked out by now. It wasn't as if they weren't smart, in fact quite the opposite, James and Sirius were near the top of every class, but they just don't care enough to actually do any work. All last year, James would spend the entire lesson writing _Mrs. Lily Potter _all over his work books, while Sirius would flirt with whichever poor girl got stuck in front of him in class. Today, however, neither of them seemed particularly interested in this. James sat silently staring at the same page in his textbook the entire class, while Sirius found annoying me was much more interesting than the day's assignment.

However, I caught both of them glancing at the empty seat usually occupied by Lily. This was her second day of missing classes. I decided that even though she would not want to be around people right now, she would most definitely not want to be missing too many classes in her NEWT year. I started writing a note to throw to James.

_I am going to bring Lily some of the work that she's missed at lunch today,_

_Do you want to come along?_

Last year I would often find a reason to talk to Lily about prefects duties or lessons, and I would bring James along so that he would have an excuse to be near her. More often than not, he would say something rude or insulting by accident, or drop something or fall down, or just generally make an ass of himself whenever he got within ten feet of her. Unfortunately, this meant that Lily only got to see this James; the arrogant, idiotic prat and not the kind, smart, and funny guy James really was, or at least was most of the time.

Before I got a chance to throw the note to James (a bad habit I had pick up after years of Marauding) Sirius grabbed it off my desk.

"Hey Moony, how 'bout I go with you instead?" he asked me.

"Er, Ok…but, uh, why?" I asked him.

"I'm just worried about Lily; I want to see how she's doing. I'll let you do the actual tutoring." He answered

"Er, well, ok, I guess you can tell James where we're going so he doesn't miss us at lunch."

"Sure, yeah, ok." He answered, although I doubt he actually would.


	4. Shrunken Frogs

_I still don't own Harry Potter, or any of the characters, but I'll keep you posted._

_Huge thanks again to my beta Krystal, and to my now six reviewers! I'm so glad you like my story, and I hope you also like this chapter, and please don't kill me for the wait! It's school, it sucks, and it's taking up all my time! I'll try to have the next chapter up really soon, to make up for it._

**Chasing Lily-Flower**

**Chapter Four: Shrunken Frogs**

Lily's POV:

I had told my two best friends, Melissa and Alice that I just wanted to be alone for awhile. They were just trying to be supportive, and while I appreciated that they cared so much, they had no idea what to say to me, and they just looked so uncomfortable just being in the same room as me, that I had to let them leave without feeling too guilty. Only now, I felt…alone. While I had plenty of owls to keep me company (many of my classmates have been sending me flowers and notes) I couldn't exactly expect an owl to understand the feelings I couldn't even express to my best friends.

Just then, I head an overly familiar tapping noise at my window. It was James's tawny owl, oh-so-imaginatively named hoot. This was the second time today it had appeared outside my window, and I was tempted not to let it in, but I just couldn't let that poor owl stay outside all day, now could I? I let it in, and gave it some of my own owl, Izzy's food. Inside the envelope attached to its leg were about ten very shrunken sugar quills and chocolate frogs. I sometimes forgot that James, arrogant prat that he may be, was actually quite good at magic, and had managed a shrinking spell that was so effective, that he managed to fit the candies into an envelope. The letter with them read:

_I hope you're feeling better, and just in case you're not, I hope these help. _

This was actually quite sweet of James. First of all, I wasn't actually sure he could write even just one sentence that wasn't about him. But it was a very nice gesture, and I performed a stretching spell to get the candies back to normal size (ok…maybe a little bigger) before eating them.

James's POV

I really hoped that Lily liked the candy. I had to ask every girl in our year (except for the slytherins, of course) what they though I should get her. Some of the girls looked very…disappointed. The bolder girls (or the sluttier ones, depending on how you look at it) had told me to ditch her and run of with them. I finally asked her friend Alice and she suggested the candy. I actually learned a lot, apparently, instead of getting sloshed, like a guy would if they were upset, girls binge-eat chocolates. I also learned that girls do not want quidditch supplies-my original plan- especially Lily, who doesn't actually play quidditch. Well, anyway, I sent her the chocolates and I still haven't gotten my owl back, which either means she hated the gift so much that she murdered poor hoot (unlikely) or she was just being her usual self and was keeping it in her room out of the cold and feeding it.

See, that's what I love about Lily, she was not only the Head Girl and the smartest witch in our year, but she was also one of the kindest girls in all of Hogwarts. She always looked for the best in people, except for me, of course. Her big emerald eyes, always to full of life and laughter and her long red glossy hair don't hurt either. Of course, I might have had a shot with her, had I been able to tell her this. Whenever I try to talk to her, I wind up forgetting what I was going to say, and making an ass of myself. For example, last year before the Christmas break, I was going to tell Lily to have a nice Christmas, when instead, our conversation went more like this:

'_Hey Lily!'_

'_Potter.'_

'_You...er…you have… red hair.'_

'_Brilliant, Potter. After six years you finally manage to string together a semi- coherent sentence and you choose to tell me that I have red hair?'_

'_Yes, wait no! Um, well yes actually. Want to go to Hogsmeade with me?'_

'_I would rather stick hot needles in my eyes. Goodbye, Potter.'_

Wow, you'd think that I would make myself sound cooler in my own memory, but I really was that pathetic. I really hope that I am at least slightly better this year, but for now, all I need to focus on is gaining her trust, and being her friend.

Sirius's POV:

I met Remus outside the great hall after grabbing some more food for ourselves and Lily. Of all the marauders, Remus was closest to Lily. They were both prefects together and always worked together in potions. Everyone thought he was a shoe-in for Head Boy, so they were all shocked when James, the lovable prankster, beat him out for the position. The only people who were actually happy with James having power over all the other students were himself, (mainly because it meant he got to spend time with Lily, and punish Slytherins) and Dumbledore, but we all suspect he knows more than he lets on.

When we got near the Head Dorm, we heard some shouting down the hall. We decided to investigate, or at least I decided and dragged Remus along with me. I threw James's invisibility cloak, which I still had from our last prank, over both of us. We silently walked down the hall and saw Muliciber and Evan Rosier, towering over Lily with the wand pointed at her. She didn't look scared, but furious, and had her wand out in front of her, as if not sure who to hex first.

"Do you see now, mudblood? Do you see what happens when you and your filthy friends try to pretend you belong here?" Sneered Rosier.

"Don't worry, you'll soon be with you're parents again!" Mulciber added with a mocking smile.

They both raised their wands as Lily stunned Rosier. He was sent flying backward just as Mulciber opened his mouth to curse Lily.

"Cru-"he began to say, just as I yelled "Protego" and Remus shouted "Expeliarmus"

Lily was left unharmed, but trembling, as Rosier turned on us.

"Black!" he yelled, and I hit him with "Petrificus Totalus."

Remus and Lily both turned to me. "We have to take him to Dumbledore." I told them.

Remus handed me the notes we had brought for Lily, and muttered "Locomotor corpus" and began to direct Mulciber's motionless body down the hall toward the head masters office.

"Are you alright?' I asked, turning to Lily

"Yes, thank you. What are we going to do about Rosier?" she asked. I had almost forgotten about him. It turns out Lily's stunning charm was so strong; she had sent him flying backward into the stone wall, rendering him unconscious.

"Nice work." I told her.

"Uh, thanks"

"Oh, uh, by the way, we brought these notes for you. It's what you've missed in class the last few days."

"Thanks. I was just headed downstairs for some lunch."

I was unsure if that was just a statement, or an invitation to join her. "Ok, well, I actually brought you some lunch, but I'm sure its cold by now."

"Oh, well, ok. I'm just going to go and find Alice and Mel then."

"Oh ok, I'll see you around then." I told her, slowly turning to leave.

"Sirius, wait." I turned back around quickly and realized she was suddenly standing very close to me. A few strands of her silky red hair had fallen in front of her eyes. Without thinking, I slowly tucked them behind her ear. She smiled, and slowly lifted her head towards mine. And then she kissed me. For a moment, I was too stunned to move, and she seemed to notice. When I didn't kiss her back right away, she stepped back, her eyes wide, the realization of what she had done set in. She mumbled something then turned and walked quickly toward the stairs.

I stood there in shock watching her walk away. I wanted to say something, so she would stop, come back; when I suddenly heard a familiar voice behind me.

"Sirius! What the hell!?"


	5. A Friendship Lost

_Just in case you were wondering, I still don't own Harry Potter, but I'm working on it._

_A huge thank you to all my reviewers! And of course, to my awe-inspiring (hehe, its fun finding over-dramatic synonyms for good) beta Krystal! _

**Chasing Lily-Flower**

**Chapter Five: A Friendship Lost**

James's POV:

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing!?"

I had decided I was going to see Lily today at lunch to see if I could coax her out of her room. I was very surprised to find that she wasn't in her room at all. I was on my way back downstairs when I saw them. When I turned that corner, it felt like ten tons of brick had collapsed on me. I saw my supposed best friend _kissing _Lily. He was kissing her! My Lily! Alright, so maybe she wasn't _my _Lily…but she sure as hell wasn't his!

"Padfoot, why?" I asked him, I couldn't hide the hurt in my voice.

"Prongs, look you see, I….well, she…" He trailed off.

"You're just going to hurt her, can't you see that!" I yelled at him, with a sudden burst of anger.

"She kissed _me_!" he pleaded.

"Yeah, well you didn't exactly stop her."

"You sound like a jealous boyfriend, you know that?"

"I'm her _friend_" it pained me just to say it. "I'm only looking out for her. She is hurt. She's confused."

"She's hurt, but she's not stupid. She knows what she wants!"

"How could she? How could she possibly know what she wants, after all that's happened? She's distressed and you're taking advantage of her!"

"That's not what this is about, and you know it! You're upset because she wants me, not you, and there's nothing you can do about it!" he screamed at me. This was about the point where I snapped. Very few times since I met Sirius have I ever snapped at him. In fact, I can only think of three occasions when I have ever been really upset with him.

When he crashed my new comet broom into a tree.

When he came over to my house for Christmas holidays in third year, and opened all my presents before I even got downstairs.

The very next day, when he ate all my pancakes.

But that Sirius seemed like distant memory. I would gladly trade all my pancakes to have that Sirius back; the one who always had my back, my best mate, my brother. Now I can barely recognize this person standing in front of me.

"Look, James…" He began, but was cut off as my fist hit his face. For what was probably the first time ever, I had hit Sirius. At least he had the decency to stop talking after that.

* * *

A/N: Ok, Im sorry it's so short, but I wanted to update it quickly, and the next chapter will be longer, I promise! 


	6. Plan B

_Despite my best efforts, JK just won't give me any of the Harry Potter characters! Maybe if I get her some chocolate…_

_I am so happy that I have so many people who like my story! Please keep reviewing, I love your feedback! Of course, this chapter would not be possible (well, it would, but none of you would want to read it) without my marvelous beta, krys. _

_Ok, here goes…_

**Chasing Lily-Flower**

**Chapter Six: Plan B**

Sirius's POV:

I sat, starring out my window, ironically enough, it was pouring rain. I think the weather is actually mocking me. The real sad thing is; the one thing I always do when I'm not happy is talk to James. When I'm confused, I talk to James. When I'm bored, I talk to James. I am currently all of these things, and of course, James is the one person I can't talk to. Believe me, I've tried, he won't even go in the same room as me anymore.

And then there's Lily.

I'm pretty sure she's been avoiding me all day, which is considerably hard to do when we share almost every class. I don't know what I'm going to do about her. I've been running all the possible scenarios in my head, and so far, nothing works out quite well. I can't just pretend it didn't happen, because it would kill James if he thought I had risked our friendship over one kiss. No, as strange as it sounds, Lily and I have to at least try to have some semblance of a relationship, for James's sake.

I walked slowly to the Great Hall for lunch, and there she was, sitting there next to Mel and Alice, I discreetly walked over to them.

"Lily, can we talk?" I asked her quietly

"It's OK Sirius. I'm fine; you don't need to explain anything to me." She said, giving me a stare that screamed _drop it, it's over. _Alice and Mel were giving me blank stares, not sure what exactly I was doing there. "Come on girls, let's go back to the common room." she said, and her tone was not one to argue with.

"Wait, Lily, you don't understand!" I insisted

" No, Sirius, I understand perfectly well, and I don't know how many more ways to tell you this, I don't need you to explain anything to me, I get it, and I'd like very much if you could just forget the entire incident!" she said, in a harsh whisper.

"Lily, please, I really want need to speak with you." I insisted

"Not here, Sirius" she hissed at me.

"Fine, outside then." I said, as I walked toward the door. Out the corner of my eye, I saw her stand up, then sit back down, then get up again and follow after me, and we walked together toward the door.

We walked through the corridor, toward the exit. It was then that I realized I had absolutely no idea what to say. _Ok, plan B _I thought to myself.

Without thinking, I pushed Lily up against the nearest wall, and kissed her.

_Seriously? That's the best plan B you could think of?_ A voice in my head asked incredulously.

Hey, gimme a break, I'm not so great at the whole quick-thinking thing.

_But now you've probably only made it worse!_

But then she started to kiss me back.

Ha! I was right! Ok…what now?

_How am I supposed to know? _

Ugh! Fine, I'll come up with something!

"Doyouwannagotohogsmeadewithme?" I said as a pulled away from her, catching my breath.

"Er…what?" She asked, confused.

"Would you like to go to hogsmeade, this weekend with me?" I asked again.

"Like, on a date?"

"Well, uh, yeah."

"Seriously?" she asked, her eyes wide, as if doubting my sanity

_No, I'm joking_ I thought sarcastically to myself. "Yes, seriously. I'd like to go to Hogsmeade with you. I'll be in the three broomsticks at 3:00, and I would like it very much if you met me there." I said to her, but based on her expression, I wasn't actually expecting an immediate reply. So, I just left and walked off to my next class, and she, well, she just stood there, dumbfounded.

Lily's POV:

Well, that was… well, I'm not entirely sure _what_ that was. I can't believe it; I have a date with Sirius black! If anyone had told me that I would go to Hogsmeade with Black even last year, I probably would have hit them, or cried; possibly both. No one goes out with Sirius Black! I mean, sure, he's snogged, and in all probability slept with, more than half female student body, but I don't think anyone has actually gone out with him before. Its days like these I wished I had one of those friends you could confide in, say anything to, and they would never judge you. I mean, Mel and Alice wouldn't understand, they'd think I was absolutely crazy, and as far as my best friend goes, well, let's just say Sev wouldn't exactly _want_ to hear about this kind of stuff, especially not concerning one of his worst enemies. If I had a diary, this is probably when it would come in handy. This should be…interesting, to say the least.


	7. All out

_Ok, so, I was going to go to JKR and ask for a few of her characters, but then I realized I don't know her address, so if any of you know it, please let me know so I can hop on the next flight._

_I am so happy, I'm up to 14 reviewers!! Thank you guys so much! If you have any suggestions or anything to say at all, please keep reviewing! It'll make me update faster, I promise._

_And in keeping with my motto __credit where credit is due__ (which is not actually my motto, or anyone's, really; it just happens to fit perfectly here) I just want to give a huge thanks to Krystal, my Beta; and if you hate the story, feel free to blame her instead of me!_

**Chasing Lily-Flower**

**Chapter Seven: All Out**

James' POV:

I swerved as an angry bludgers went whizzing off to my left as I tried -unsuccessfully- to get the particularly uncooperative quaffle through the goal hoop.

We have exactly two days until our first game of the year against Slytherin. I have been at quidditch practice for exactly one hour and fourteen minutes. And in that time, I have managed to get hit with two bludgers, flown into the other beater, and very nearly fallen off my broom. Why, you might ask, is the quidditch captain so horribly uncoordinated? How did this person ever even get on the team? Well, normally, I am actually quite good at quidditch – the best, some have said. I just find it extremely hard to focus today. As if I don't have enough trouble trying to hear or speak to my team over the screams and whistles of the girls watching practice from the stands; but it's extremely hard to concentrate after having seen Lily and Sirius leaving the great hall together after breakfast. I can't seem to stop thinking about it, and it's eating away at me.

What are they doing right now?

"James, DUCK!"

And that was the last thing I heard.

Sirius's POV:

"Moony?" I whispered to the back of his head. "Moony? Moony? Hello!"

"What, Sirius!" He whispered back, rather rudely.

"Mr. Lupin! That's quite enough. We are in the middle of a test, and I trust you can remain quiet until the end of class." Professor Slughorn, our overzealous and rather large potions professor said, glaring at Remus, who turned around to glare at me. How exactly is it my fault? No other teacher in the school would just assume it was Remus who was at fault, and just automatically give me a detention instead, but Old Sluggy has his little favorites, and everyone else simply isn't worthy of his time.

Well, now I guess Remus isn't going to want to help me. Now who am I going to talk to about my date with Lily? Peter? HA! Only if I wanted Lily to run screaming from the building. I guess I'm on my own for this one. I'm so screwed.

James' POV:

I saw a thin strip of blinding light as I attempted to open my eyes. My eyelids felt like the weighed a hundred pounds.

"He's waking up!" I heard a voice exclaim

There were about six people circling the bed I was on, all of them wearing quidditch robes.

"Come on, captain. The game is in less than half and hour!" said Lauren Campbell, the seeker on my team.

"What?"

"We have to get going, like, now!" another voice called out.

"What do you think you're doing? He's a patient here! I will not allow this!" Madame Pomfrey shrieked at us.

"Don't worry, we'll have him back right after the game!" our keeper, Alex, yelled as the dragged me out of the hospital wing.

"Ok, captain, you have a mild concussion, so just don't fall asleep and you should be fine till the end of the game." Lauren explained.

"Alright, let's go!"

Lily's POV:

(A/N: this next part is two days later)

"Lily, come on! You've been in the library for over two hours!" Mel whined from beside me.

"I wanted to get this transfiguration essay finished for Ancient Runes."

"When are you ever going to need to know that? I mean, it's not as if you're planning a trip back in time anytime soon." Alice added.

"I just find it very interesting."

"Yes, well, you know what I find interesting? Quidditch. And guess what? I'm going to miss the first match of the season, which is in less than 10 minutes, because _you_ hate studying alone. Me and Al don't even take this class!" Mel moaned, which earned her an icy glare from the librarian, Ms. Pince. As soon as she turned back around, Mel made a face at her.

"Alright, alright, let's go. The essay isn't due until next week anyway." I told them as I gathered up my books.

"WHAT!" both girls yelled simultaneously. This, of course, got us each one way tickets straight out of the library. I'll be lucky if she ever lets me back in again.

"I cannot believe you did that!" Mel screeched loudly at me on our way through the corridors.

"Well, I'm going to watch the match with you, am I not? I'd say that's a fair trade."

Her brilliant response was somewhere along the lines of 'Hmph'. I don't usually attend the quidditch matches, because I don't have the time or the will really, to sit outside in the cold for however long the match is going to be. This year, however, my friends have decided they don't want me to get too wrapped up in head's duties and schoolwork, so they are going to drag me to every quidditch games, dance, and Hogsmeade weekend we have. If I had to pick a match to see, though, it would be the Gryffindor-Slytherin one; I even wore all house colors today! When I decide to commit to something, I go all out, like last Halloween, when I wore a Jasmine costume from the movie Aladdin. Unfortunately, hardly anyone here watches muggle movies, and they all assumed I was a belly dancer.

"Welcome Ladies and Gents, to today's quidditch match! We got the best of the best, setting the bar to which all matches this year will be measured! First on the field, Gryffindor, with beaters Jacob and Rose Anderson" (we cheered even louder, they're Mel's younger siblings in fourth year) "Keeper Alex Taylor, seeker Lauren Campbell, chasers Davey Gudgeon, Adrian Reid, and of course, captain James Potter!" The entire crown erupted into cheers as the team walk onto the pitch, waving and smiling at their adoring fans.

"And here's our Slytherin team. First, beaters Avery and Mcnair, chasers Hadrian Davis, Rabastan Lestrange, and Donovan Hall, seeker Regulus Black, and keeper and captain Marcus Higgs." The commentator's voice was notably less enthusiastic now as it rang out across the stands, but the crowd was just as loud as before; except of course, for where we were sitting. No one in the Slytherin stands would so much as clap for our team, so we stayed silent for theirs as well.

"…and Reid makes brilliant pass to Gudgeon, over to Potter, POTTER SCORES! That's ten-nothing Gryffindor!"

I zoned out of the game at around 50-40 Slytherin, and just watched some of the people in the stands. I saw Sirius sitting with Remus and their friend Peter. They made up James's personal cheering squad. Peter even had a red and orange foam finger. Where exactly did he get a foam finger? It's not as is he goes to many muggle sports games.

"AND CAMPBELL HAS THE SNITCH! GRYFINDOR HAS WON THE GAME!" The announcer yelled as if it were the most exciting news we'd ever heard. "That's a final score of 200-60."

And the crowd went wild. Seriously, I don't know if I'll ever be able to hear again. As the teams exited the pitch toward their change rooms, Alice, Mel and I headed down to congratulate them, and give Mel's brother and sister the chocolate frogs her mother had sent her to give them after their first game. As we were walking, Mel and Alice broke out into a rendition of our house cheer they invented a few years ago.

"_Oh, we Gryffindors, we are the best,_

_We're so much better than the rest_

_We beat you now, we beat you then_

_And next time we will win again"_

No one has ever called Mel shy. While Alice was singing, Mel was dancing and clapping and jumping around. She got all the Gryffindors she saw to join her, too. She even got me singing the song as we ran toward the dressing rooms. I was sing-shouting the song, when Mel and Alice suddenly stopped. I turned around quickly to see what was wrong, and I bumped into Danica Thorne. All the younger boys around had stopped to stare at the tall, leggy Slytherin with long jet-black hair and piecing deep green eyes. Danica stared angrily at me as she shoved me out of the way; knocking one of the books I had taken out of the library onto the floor. Danica was not someone the average person would get in a fight with, or even attempt to talk to, there were rumors that she was even part vela. But no one, and I mean no one, pushes Lily Evans around!

"Excuse me." I stated angrily. Danica turned and looked down at me, as if I wasn't there. I stared fiercely at her, and not just any stare, my patented who-the-hell-do-you-think-you're-dealing-with stare, the very one I had used countless times to get Potter to leave me alone, or to scare Filch's evil cat away from me. Even Danica Thorne was not immune to the Lily Evans death glare, and she picked up my book and handed it back to me, with a fake smile plastered across her face. As she walked away, Mel and Alice ran up to stand beside me as _'the Danicas'_ (the two girls, Tara and Jaylen, who one day decided they were going to dress and act like her) scurried down the corridor after her.

"Come on girls, let's go back to the common room and celebrate. We'll see Rose and Jacob there, Mel, so you can give them the sweets there." Alice suggested, and we made our way back to Gryffindor tower.


	8. Long Awaited Saturday

_Ok, so apparently, none of you want to help me get one of the Harry Potter characters, so I'm out of ideas. You can make it up to me by reviewing! Please? Any suggestions, questions, or ideas would be much appreciated! And thanks so much to my now 16 reviewers. _

_Another huge thanks to Krystal, my Beta. s'wonderful, s'marvelous! (lol, Krys, I hope you get that, otherwise I just sound stupid.)_

**Chasing Lily-Flower**

**Chapter Eight: Long Awaited Saturday**

Lily's POV:

Ok. It's now Friday. Friday, as in one-day-before-Saturday, Friday. I have _one day_ before the Hogsmeade trip, and the '_date'_ with Sirius. What kind of person asks someone out, then just walk away? Who does that! I've decided what I'm going to do though, and tomorrow, Black just might be surprised.

James' POV:

Well, this is just great! I have no one to go to Hogsmeade with. I asked Remus, but he has a study date with another prefect, and I will not ask Sirius on principle. Plus, I asked Rebecca, Sarah, and Kari if they would like to go with me, but they all have dates too! That leaves Peter, but even I wouldn't want to spend the whole day with just Peter, not to mention the fact that he is nowhere to be found. I might as well just stay here and catch up on my Potions essay, but I really don't want to do that. I'll just ask Dumbledore for permission to floo home to see my parents. I'm Head Boy; he'll have to let me.

I slowly made my way to Dumbledore's office. As I reached the Gargoyle at the door, I could hear footsteps walking toward it from inside. I hid around the corner to watch whoever it was coming outside.

"You absolute moron!" came the shrill, whiny voice of a sixth year Slytherin girl.

"Well, it's not _my _fault she screamed so loudly that McGonagall heard and came running!" said another. "And besides, if you had just silenced her properly, none of this would have happened! It's all your fault, actually."

"Stupid, screaming mudblood! He won't be happy with us at all now, will he?" asked another, more timid boy. No one else dared to say any more, in case anyone in the halls should hear them. I heard them walking further down the hall, and looked back around the corner of the wall. I saw only the backs of three school robes, three Slytherin, and…one Gryffindor? No, it couldn't be, I must be seeing things. But he did look an awful lot like….no, no way, couldn't be.

"Acid Pops" I said to the menacing Gargoyle outside Dumbledore's office. I would find out more about those slytherins later. The doors swung open, and Dumbledore was sitting quietly at his huge oak desk.

"How may I help you Mister Potter?" he asked, without looking up.

"Well sir, I was hoping I would be allowed to floo home this weekend to see my parents." I told him.

"This weekend? On a Hogsmeade weekend? Any reason in particular?" He asked, peering over his half-moon glasses.

"No, no reason at all." I told him "Just miss them a bit, wanted to see my mum before the holidays." I tried my best to sound believable.

"Oh, I don't know James, I usually only allow students to floo home under special circumstances." I tried my best not to look too disappointed. "Besides, as Head Boy, I was hoping you would be in Hogsmeade, helping to keep the younger students in order, mainly seeing as this is the first of the year."

"If you insist, sir." I said.

"Good day, James." He replied, returning to his work.

Lily's POV:

"Mel, pass the popcorn!" Alice said, as she applied the final coat of nail polish to her toes. "I'm so glad you keep all this stuff from your house here, Lil!" she said, referring to the various muggle make-over tools she had arranged in front of her; facial scrubs, masks, nail polish, and lotions were scattered all over my common room. Mel had managed to find out from Remus about my date with Sirius tomorrow, and instead of throwing a fit, as I thought she would, she got Alice to help her ambush me and force me to try a 'new look'.

"And this cornpop is awesome!" sail Mel, who was trying to balance a cucumber slice on her eye.

"Thanks, and its _popcorn, _Mel. And it took forever to make! I've never tried to make it without a microwave before, and when I tried to use magic to make it I must have burned it a thousand times."

"Don't worry Lily, the cornpop tastes fine." Alice exclaimed, and I didn't even bother to correct her. "But, what's a microwave?"

"It's a kind of muggle oven, only much smaller and it heats food without fire. Do they teach you anything at all in muggle studies?" I asked rhetorically.

"Well, we do read quite a lot of muggle literature. And we learned about how felly tones work, too, but I didn't understand any of it." Mel replied.

"Well, then I'm not exactly sure I want you doing my make-up for tomorrow, if you don't actually know anything about using muggle tools." I said, trying to hide my fear as best I could. Mel always was a bit eccentric, and I couldn't help but be afraid of ending up looking like an electrocuted circus performer.

"Don't worry, Lily, we wont be doing your make-up the muggle way. I will, however, be curling your hair, _and _choosing your outfit." Alice said in a way that made it very hard to argue. Alice can be scary when she wants to.

"Alright, but please don't choose anything that makes me look to…trampy." I begged. God knows what skimpy clothing they were going to force me to wear.

"Let's go look at what she has, and decide right now!" Mel suggested. She had been working all night to keep the conversation off herself, after we found out about her 'study-date' with Remus. The three of us walked up to my room, and Mel and Alice ran immediately to my closet.

James' POV:

"Gillyweed" I said solemnly to the portrait outside my dorm.

"Sorry, but the passwords been changed." The lady in the portrait told me, not seeming all that sorry.

"What?! Is the head girl inside?"

"Yes, she is."

"Well, could you get her, then?" I asked, getting slightly annoyed.

"Well I could, but that wouldn't be nearly as amusing. And besides, she's not in the common room." She said curtly.

Just then, the portrait swung forward, and for a second I thought it was trying to kill me.

"Hey James!" said a cheery voice from inside, and I immediately knew it wasn't Lily.

"Hello, Alice, what are you doing here?"

"Well, we heard voices at the door, so Lily asked me to see if it was you." She explained

"That's nice, but what are you doing _here, _as in, in our dorm?" I asked

"Oh! Me 'n Mel are giving Lily a makeover!" she squealed at me.

"Lily doesn't need a makeover." I said, as a reflex. I heard a very soft '_aawww' _but I ignored it.

"Come on inside, James, you can help!" Called another voice from inside the dorm.

"Um, thanks, but no thanks." I said, laughing.

"We need a male's perspective, we are helping lily get ready for her d—OW!" Alice cried from beside me. I looked over to see her rubbing her head, a shoe on the floor beside her.

"Right… well, I'm just gonna head to bed now. Try not to make too much noise, please?" I asked as I stepped into the common room and made my way to the stairs leading to my room.

Lily's POV:

"Um, Mel, why did you throw my shoe at Alice?" I asked, both of us looking at her like she had three heads.

"Look, James is my friend. I've know him since I got here at Hogwarts. I don't want to see him hurt, and do you have any idea how upset he'll be when he finds out Lily is dating Sirius?" She asked looking at us like it was painfully obvious.

"Well, he's going to have to find out sometime." Alice said sadly. "Oh, he's gonna be so sad" she whined. "He's so obsessed with you, Lily. You should hear him talk about you."

"He's obsessed only with torturing me." I told them. "You guys know I can't stand him! After what he did to Sev, never mind all his stupid pranks against all of us, which have cost us god knows how many house points…" I broke off; they all knew these things by now.

"Come on, Lily! You know they're all just having fun, goofing off a little. And besides, I don't understand how you can still be friends with the Sniv."

"It's _Severus._ And he _is _my friend. So just drop it, ok?" I said harshly. I knew what she meant, of course; Sev and his new friends, and their pure-blood obsession. But I knew Sev, and had long forgiven him for the hateful things he had said. Obviously, things were much more strained between us now, a lot more complicated, but I always had a friend in him. I had known him longer than anyone else here, even if Mel and Alice couldn't understand it.

"But, why are you so quick to forgive Sirius, and not James?" Alice asked. "If anything, Black is the only who does most of the pranking, the rule-breaking, but you are even willing to go on a date with him. James, you won't even talk civilly too." She said. Even then, I knew she was right, but I would never admit it.

"First of all, I am making an effort to forgive James. But only because he seems to be making an effort to change. It's…nice. I don't need to worry anymore about waking up with red jello in my hair '_because it matched'_" I explained. "And as for Sirius, well, he hasn't exactly changed very much. It's just, I don't know he's…different." I broke off again.

"Well, thanks for clearing that up." Mel said sarcastically, and I threw a pillow at her.

"Look, I can't exactly explain it. But I haven't forgotten the way Sirius treats everyone." I told them.

Mel responded with a not-so-subtle cough 'slut' cough and Alice and I broke out laughing.

"And, I'll attempt to be nicer to James, if it'll make you two feel better." I said sincerely, but was hit with a pillow again.

"Oops, sorry!" Alice called, laughing. We laughed and talked pretty much all night, until I was ordered to get my beauty sleep at around 2:00.

Lily's POV:

I woke up the next morning far before the other two girls. I looked at the chair with my outfit draped over it. The other two had chosen a black skirt that was far too short for my liking, and a white blouse and my favorite black shoes. It didn't seem like much, but I had limited selection. I usually only got to get new clothes when I went home for summer break, so I had an abundance of sundresses and tank tops, but very little to wear now that it was so cold out. I decided to take a quick shower, because the girls would want to help me get ready when they got up.

By the time I got out of the shower and got dressed, the other two were awake, and were looking through various books.

"Oh lily, we have to try this!" cried Mel "It would look so perfect with your hair!"

"Er, what is it you want to do, exactly?" I asked, secretly terrified.

"We're going to use this spray stuff to curl it, and this spell to add highlights!" Alice said, practically jumping up and down.

"Well, um, do you think we could try it on your hair first?"

"Why would I want to do that? What if it doesn't work?" she asked, innocently.

"That's exactly my point!"

"Don't worry Lily you can trust us, know what we're – NOW!" Mel called out, and immediately, Alice put a body bind curse on me!

Mel did my entire hair and make-up while I was frozen! When they finally reversed the curse, I was horrified that my hair would be 'accidentally' turned green and my make-up would be caked on. As soon as I could move my feet, I ran to the mirror.

"Oh my God!" I cried

"What? What's wrong Lily?" Alice asked

"Um, well, you might not have noticed, but my hair is ON FIRE!" I screamed.

Woken by my screaming, James ran into the room-wearing only his pajama bottoms. It was very hard not to stare, until of course I smelled my hair burning.

"Wha- AH! Aguamenti!" He yelled, which caused a jet of water to come flying right at me.

"James, you idiot!" Mel screamed "You completely ruined her outfit!"

"_James _is the idiot? YOU SET MY HAIR ON FIRE!" I screamed at her.

"Ok, Mel, I think it's time to go, lets get out of here, before you manage to completely ruin Lily's da-" Alice stopped abruptly "Lily's…Day! We should leave before we ruin Lily's day! Ok, well, bye!" she called from the door before the two of them ran down the stairs as fast as they could.

"Well, er…I'm gonna go now, so…yeah, bye." James said groggily and confused from the doorway "Oh and you might wanna do something about your hair" He said, trying very hard not to laugh, then ducking out of the room before I had a chance to hex him. And believe me; I needed to hex someone _very _badly right now.

I walked over to the mirror, and performed some simple spells to dry my face and clothes. I managed to fix my hair-somewhat. It was much shorter, but at least it looked like it was cut shorter on purpose. I grabbed my favorite coat from my over-sized closet, and walked down the stairs into my common room. James was on the couch, reading a book.

"Ha! Hm, I mean, have fun at Hogsmeade" He said, still trying not to laugh at my ridiculous looking hair. I scowled at him, and slammed the door behind me. I heard a howling laughter from behind it as I was walking down the hall.

Sirius's POV:

"Rosie! Looking good as ever!" I called Rosmerta at the bar over the now crowded room.

"Sirius, good to see you. And the answer's no." She said

"But I haven't even asked yet. You don't even know what the question was."

"Well, lets see, it was either about a date, a drink, or a prank." She counted off the options on her fingers.

"Oh, you know me all too well. But not to worry, I'm actually here on a date, so to ask you now would just be plain rude." I said with a smile.

"Who's the lucky girl, yeah?" She asked

"Lily Evans."

"James's bird?" She asked, shocked.

"She's not James's bird!" I told her sharply.

"Well then explain what he was doing last year when he stood up on my table and sang to her?" She asked

"He's delusional; do you remember what she did right after?"

"Yeah, she threw her drink at him, mug and all. But that does not give you the right to move in on his girl." She said, giving me a disapproving look.

"Ok, again, she's not his girl." I said "And I would like to order _me _and Lily some drinks."

She looked torn for a minute, before taking my order.

"Just send two butterbeers to that table over there" I said pointing to the only table still open. "Thanks Rosie." I said, and then left to sit down.

Just as I reached the table, the door opened again, and Lily walked in. She saw me almost immediately and walked over to the table.

"Black." She said briskly. I took that as a greeting.

"Evans." I replied with a sly smile.

She sat down across from me, trying very hard not to look uncomfortable; it wasn't working. It was very hard not to laugh.

"I ordered us some fire whiskey; I figured three bottles would be enough to start." She sent me a look that would have scared a greater man, and then looked around wildly, probably looking for the little third years to make sure they hadn't heard.

"Don't worry, Evans, it was a joke. You know, sometime people tell them, and other people who have something called a sense of humor laugh." I teased with a wide grin.

"Yes, well, that usually works when the person telling the joke is actually remotely funny." She said, also grinning, but much more evilly. I shook the stray hair that had fallen in my eyes away from my face. Normally, that'd make a girl fall at my feet, Lily's expression, however, didn't seem to change. A long, very awkward silence passed. This was definitely not going to be like any other date.

"So…how are your classes going?" She asked casually, or at least I think it was casual she was going for.

"Not great, actually. I swear; The Slug has it in for me." I told her truthfully, using the marauder nickname for our spiteful potions master.

"Oh, I know what you mean!"

"I'm sorry, what? You? Little-miss-perfect Head Girl Lily Evans? I highly doubt there's a class you're not the best in, never mind one that the teacher hates you." I said skeptically. It actually bothered me that she thought _she _had problems at school.

"It's my Ancient Runes teacher. It's like everything I do in that class is wrong." Lily looked deeply bothered by this. Everyone at school knew she tried so hard to do so well to make up for the fact she was often looked over, simply because her parents were muggles. I couldn't bring myself to tell her that her teacher was one of them. Not that it mattered though, because just then our butterbeers arrived.

"So, are you going to tell me why your hair looks like someone tried to eat it, or are we just pretending that it didn't happen?" I asked, grinning, but instead of offering an explanation, Lily just glared. "Ok then…pretending it is." We sat and ate mostly in silence, with the occasional comment about Hogwarts or the weather.

"So, what would you like to do next?" I asked

"Next? Oh, um…how about honeydukes?" she suggested.

"Honeydukes it is, then." I told her

We walked down the street to the overly-crowded Honeydukes. They were giving out free samples of the three new Bertie Bott bean flavors; icing sugar, pumpkin pie and cabbage.

After a few minutes over yelling and laughing over all the little third and fourth years crowding the store, Lily and I started to find more to talk about. Our favorite sweets, (mine Fizzing Whizzbees, hers chocolate frogs) our favorite spells, classes, our friends; we talked, it seemed, for the rest of the day. The store was all but empty by the time Lily realized we had to get back to the school. They had given us a very specific time limit, and while I wasn't in any rush to get back to the school, Lily made it very clear that the Head Girl had to make it back in time to 'set an example for the younger students'.

"Sirius, I'm serious!" she whined, before realizing how ridiculous that sounded. "I need to get back to school now!"

"Lily, calm down, I know a shortcut." I told her "Just, follow me"

"Wait, where are you going, Sirius, the door is that way!"

"Just trust me, ok?" I asked, she looked sceptical. "Oh come on, you coward!" I grabbed her hand an brought her to the back of the store.

I opened the secret passage James and I had discovered in our third year. Lily was too shocked to say anything, and in too much of a hurry to scold me for it. We walked down the dark tunnel-like passage until we reached the entrance to Hogwarts. We ended up right next to the creepy statue of the one-eyed witch.

"Bit late to be wandering the halls, isn't it, Black?" said a menacing voice from somwhere behind me.

I'm so sorry this chapter took so long; I just had no idea at all on how to write it! I hope it makes up for the wait. Don't forget to review :)


	9. Unforgiven, Unforgotten

_Hey guys! I'm so sorry for the wait. I really suck, I know. But I'm at twenty reviews now! Yay! I still don't own Harry Potter or any of JK's characters, although if I could choose one it would be…um…ok, all of them! And thanks again to Krystal, who keeps my stories from dying a slow, bad-grammar induced death._

**Chasing Lily-Flower**

**Chapter Nine: Unforgiven, Unforgotten**

Sirius's POV:

"Bit late to be wandering the halls, isn't it, Black?" said a menacing voice from somwhere behind me. "And with a mudblood no less." It was a young voice, yet condescending and full of hate. "Just a bit below you, don't you think?" I turned around to see that it was Snivilus standing behind us. "And look, no Potter. Get into a row over stealing his girl?" he taunted.

"She's not James's- You know what, Sniv? You have a bout three seconds to get out of my face before I decide to test out some new hexes I've learned." I said, reaching for my wand. Before I could even get it out of my pocket, Lily's was raised and pointed right between his eyes. Gotta love this girl!

"Why do you care about who Sirius spend his time with?" She spat, her voice cruel. "Oh, I forgot you don't care; about anyone but yourself." She looked as though she was fighting both the will to hex him and cry. She turned to leave, grabbing my arm.

"Just a second" I whispered in her ear, and I turned to walk back toward Sniv. Without much thought, my hand slammed into his face with a satisfying _crunch _as his nose broke under my fist. "Don't you _ever_ call her that again."

_(Later)_

Severus' POV:

Has she utterly lost her mind? What can she possibly see in Black? He's an idiotic tosser whose arrogance is only matched by Potter.

"Lily, Lily please! Just open the door!" I begged, yelling through the portrait door in front of her Heads common room. _She's never going to speak to you again…_

"When are you going to get it? I'm not going to forgive you again, Sev!" she yelled from inside, her voice breaking. I can't believe I've done this to her again.

"Just leave!" she cried

"I'm not leaving, Lily." I told her firmly "Just tell me what I need to do to gain back your trust!" I begged.

"Nothing! There's nothing you can do! You've made your choice. Just go!"

"No"

"What do you mean, _no_?" she demanded furiously, I could picture her eyes widening in disbelief.

"I mean just that. No, I'm not leaving. I won't leave you." _…again._

"I'm afraid that you have no choice in the matter." Said voice that most definitely did not belong to Lily.

"Never, Potter, has anything had less to do with you. I suggest you mind your own business, and leave Lily and I alone."

"I believe you were asked to leave first, Snivellus. And also, this is my dorm, so if you'll excuse me-" He said, attempting to push me out of his way to open the door. Lily was standing on the other side, a single tear in the corner of her eye. She wouldn't even look at me.

"Lily, tell him. Tell him you still want me here." I asked quietly, but unable to control my anger at Potter. She closed her eyes tightly, as if in pain, or as if she was trying to will herself somewhere else.

"Well, I guess you have your answer. So if you would kindly get out of my way." Potter announced. I turned and walked away from the door before I lost it and hexed him. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't kill him; it would upset her.


	10. Instructions and Introductions

"Bit late to be wandering the halls, isn't it, Black

_Hey guys! I'm back. This chapter will hopefully be a bit happier than the last. Huge thanks to everyone reading this, and please continue to review, I love your feedback! And of course, thanks to my fantabulous beta Krystal._

**Chasing Lily-Flower**

**Chapter Ten: Instructions and Introductions**

Alice's POV:

"Mel, do you think we're doing the right thing?"

"Honestly, no. I mean, it probably wasn't a good idea to eat thirteen pancakes in one sitting." My best friend said from beside me, rubbing her stomach and looking absolutely sick. "Remind me never to have a pancake eating contest with you, ever again!"

"Surprisingly, that's not what I meant." I told her, rolling my eyes. "I mean do you think we're doing the right thing letting Lily go out with the most notorious serial dater at Hogwarts, and possibly all of England?

"Well, first of all, Lily probably wouldn't want to hear you saying we're _letting _her do anything. It's her choice; we can't really stop her, if this is what she wants to do." Mel shrugged, still looking slightly green.

"I know, but I mean, she definitely does not want to become a member of the 'Dumped by Sirius' club."

"More like the dumped by Sirius clones. They're all the same; popular, pretty, and dumb as dirt." She laughed, tilting her head toward Danica's pack of giggling friends. She snorted and tilted her head to the side, imitating them; " I am so totally confused, I mean, Witch Weakly is saying that the nail colors this season are a frosted pink, but that like, totally clashes with my hair!" she said in a shrill voice, with wide mocking eyes, and I nearly fell out of my chair laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked a bored male voice from behind us. I turned and saw James Potter sliding into the seat next to me, and grabbing some food from the center of the table. "I could hear you from across the Great Hall" he said, looking bored.

"Mel, maybe you should do your impersonation again, Potter certainly looks like he could use a laugh." Poor James, this whole Lily-Sirius thing was hitting him hard.

Mel just looked straight at him and said, in a voice normally reserved for small children, "Look Potter, just tell her." She said, rather cryptically, and took a piece of bacon off his plate. When she noticed his confused look, she added "You know exactly what I'm talking about, so don't try to play dumb. You need to tell Lily once and for all that you love her."

"Don't you think I've tried that?" he asked, looking incredulous. It was true, James had told Lily many times that he fancied her, although it was usually proclaimed to the entire Great Hall on a banner, or written on a cake that he had charmed to explode.

Mel rolled her eyes and let out a huge sigh, which in Mel-speak meant: _you're not listening to me you idiot _"You need to speak to her _privately_ and let her know exactly how you really feel. There is to be no one else in the room with you two, because everyone but Lily is very well aware that you're head over heels for her. There will be no banners, exploding cakes, or serenading house elves. Don't put any charms on her, or yourself, and just avoid using magic at all. And for Merlin's sake, man! DO NOT run your hands through that mop you call hair!" I tried very hard to keep from laughing as Mel ticked off the points from her speech on her fingers, and James looked very much like he thought he should be writing this all down. She was right though, whenever James arrogantly ran his hand through his overly messy hair, it was very hard not to want to throw something at him.

"It's still not going to work" he said, looking miserable "She hates me. Absolutely loathes me!"

"It's not so much you, as everything you stand for" I said, trying to be helpful, though it didn't appear to work.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, more annoyed than angry.

"Well, James, you may not have noticed, but Lily is very much for following school rules, and she's very against bullying of any kind, and your not exactly our moral compass for good behavior."

"But I'm Head Boy…" he argued weakly.

"Do you actually disagree with anything I just said?" Mel asked condescendingly.

"Well, no, but I thought I should argue it a bit, makes me seem like less of a git," he mumbled, sadly. But only a moment later, he looked back up at us, smiling. "Well, I'll see you gorgeous girls later." He kissed us each on the cheek. "Wish me luck! Though I probably won't need it," he added, running his hand through his hair. Mel stood up in a furry from beside me

"WHAT DID I JUST SAY!" she yelled at his back, as he made a hasty retreat from the Great Hall, pushing some slow-walking first years out of his way.

"Do you really think Lily is going to just leave Sirius and go out with James, just like that? I mean, I'm not the biggest James fan myself, but she _really _despises him." I turned to Mel worriedly. "She never been anything more than civil to him and that's on a good day."

"Is not general incivility the very essence of love?" She asked, looking dreamy

"…What?"

"It's a quote from a muggle novel, found it in Lily's trunk last year."

"Oh. So you think this is going to work, then? You really think James can pull it off?" I asked hopefully

"Probably not, he'll bugger it up just like always," she said solemnly.

James's POV:

Ok James, you can do this. Just tell her how you feel. It may not have worked well in the past but it bloody will now. You will not lose her to Sirius, you _wont_!

_I'm meant to be with Lily._

Ever since the first time he had seen Lily, he had known that. While James was on the train on the way to school for the first time, James had seen the short, skinny redhead girl sitting alone in a compartment, looking at a photograph. She had a single tear running down her cheek, and James can remember wanting to do anything to make her stop crying.

"_Hi" said James, rather lamely._

"_Er, Hello" said the redhead, looking up from a photo she was holding. After realizing James seemed incapable of saying anything further, she added "I'm Lily." and held out her hand._

"_I'm pretty. NO! You're pretty. I'm Sirius." _

"_Sorry mate, but you're James." Sirius said, trying not to laugh, then looking __appraisingly __at Lily. _

"_Right. I'm James, he's pretty, and you're Lily." James said, smiling stupidly. _

"_Well, thank you, mate" Said Sirius, who now could not keep from laughing at him._

"_Er…well, goodbye then." Said Lily, getting up to close the compartment door between them. _

That was the first time he had met, and the first time of many he had told Sirius that he planned to marry her one day. And even if Sirius had forgotten that, James sure as hell hadn't.


	11. Hate is a Strong Word

Chasing Lily-Flower

_Hey guys, I have some really exciting news; I still don't own anything to do with HP!_

_Thank you so much to everyone who's been reviewing, and I'd love to hear your opinions on the story. To anyone else reading this, please review! I swear it will make me update faster! And yes, this chapter is named for one of my favorite Plain White T's songs. _

**Chasing Lily-Flower**

**Chapter Eleven: Hate is a Strong Word**

_Just one more book. Just one more book and you can go back to your room. Come on Lily! Are you the Head Girl, or not?!_

Lily had been sitting at the same table in the library for more than three hours, and had retained exactly nothing. Not a single word she had read had registered in her mind, and yet she kept reading. Why, you may ask?

Because.

Not exactly the best answer, but it was the only one she could come up with. She couldn't go up to her dorm, because she couldn't face Potter. And she most certainly _was not _going to speak to Severus any time soon. So that left outside in the pouring rain (_not bloody likely_) or the library. Hence, the mind-numbing, soul-sucking three hours she had spent trying not to rip her own hair out.

She was just about to give up and go upstairs when she heard a voice from behind her:

"Lily?"

It was him.

_Great. Just fan-freaking-tastic. _

Lily turned around to see James Potter leaning casually in that annoyingly arrogant way that all the Marauders thought was so sexy and cool. The worst part was most people agreed with them. Lily, on the other hand, had always hoped whatever they were leaning on would suddenly just fall out from under them. Of course, James was leaning against a book shelf, so if that fell it would make quite a mess…

"…Lily? Hello?"

James was waving at her, trying to get her attention. Lily took a deep breath.

"Yes, Potter?" she asked, keeping her face impassive.

"I was looking for you earlier. I'm going to the kitchens, would you like anything?"

"…what?"

"I'm, uh, going to the kitchens-"

"No, no, I heard you. But what do you mean? There's no way you'd be allowed in the kitchen, even if you did know where it was."

He smiled with annoyingly false sincerity "Oh, you poor naïve girl, I know much more about this school then you could ever dream to, in fact-"

"Oh, shut up, will you? You are so unbelievably arrogant and haughty"

"You think I'm an arrogant hotty?" He asked almost gleefully.

"UGH! You know I could just…I'm just so…you are a complete….!" Lily began jumbling her insults, which had never happened before, especially not when dealing with Potter. Giving up on words entirely, she got up to collect her books. With her best _you're-not-worthy-of-my-time _face, she stormed out of the library; leaving a very confused and downtrodden James in her wake.

* * *

"_At long long last, receive your due, long overdue…"_

I'm so sorry this chapter has taken me so long and is so short. I've been so crazy stressed out with my exams and stuff at school, but those are done now, and I have this whole week to do nothing. So, I might even be posting another chapter later this week! But after that, I'm away for most of the summer. If where I'm going, the give me internet access, I may be able to write more, but don't count on it.


	12. Unveiling

Chasing Lily-Flower

_Still don't own anything to do with HP. And a huge thanks to all my reviewers. Please review this story if you haven't already! It'll make me update faster, I swear!_

**Chasing Lily-Flower**

**Chapter Twelve: So Long**

Lily's POV:

I finally made it back to the heads dorm, and saw something remarkable. Arranged across the small table in front of the large burgundy couch were dozens of small candles. Someone- and I was fairly certain who- had taken the time to spell out 'Go to Hogsmeade with me, Lily'

It was remarkable because 1) I had never seen anyone go to so much trouble for me, and 2) James had never done anything quite like this before. He usually went for the spectacularly dramatic ways of asking me out, always in front of a large crowd. This was quite possibly the sweetest thing I've ever seen. There must have been a cat or something in the room, because right then my eyes began to water quite profusely.

"What do you think?" I didn't have to turn around to recognize the husky voice as James.

"How did you- when did you have time to do this? You were just in the library-" my head was spinning and I couldn't seem to get this ridiculous smile to leave my face.

"It's been set up most of the evening. You were taking forever in the library, I was afraid it would inadvertently set fire to the school! I had to go downstairs and annoying you into coming back here." he joked, a smile now adorning his face, too.

"James, I …" I paused, my eyes fell to the floor, "what about Sirius?"

I couldn't look up. I couldn't stand to see the sadness and hurt I knew would be evident in his eyes. "Forget about Sirius" he replied. His voice was not harsh, or even upset. He sounded oddly hopeful.

"Lily, forget about him" he stepped closer to me, grabbing hold of my chin and lifting it to look at him. "Be with me."

Three words. Just three words and I knew that was it. It was not like he'd kept his preference for me unknown all these years. It was not as if I didn't know! I honestly can't even understand myself, sometimes. But hearing the sincerity, the hope in his voice…the affection there, it did me in.

"Alright."

"…alright?" He asked, incredulous. Both his eye brows jumped up and became hidden beneath his messy fringe.

"Yes. Alright" I repeated, smiling now. The look on his face! It was pure, almost childlike elation. He looked happier than when he'd won the quidditch cup last year, and I would've though that impossible. He put his hands on my waist and lifted me into the air, spinning us both a full turn before setting me back on the ground. Dizzily, I fell against his chest, his arms still holding my upright.

"Thank you" he whispered, reverently into my ear. I giggled in response. I _giggled_! This is clearly not me. I've obviously been replaced by someone else entirely, someone far more impractical. Alice, perhaps.

James closed his eyes tight for a second, and then opened them. At first, it seemed he was trying to convince himself this wasn't just some dream he was having; that I really was finally saying yes to him after all this time. But when his eyes opened, the look of fierce determination in them literally stopped my breathing for a moment. He put one hand on the side of my face, the other he kept tightly on my waist. Before I could fully register what was happening, he pulled me roughly toward him. His lips crashed desperately against mine. My eyes closed of their own accord, and gravity, it seemed, stopped existing. The next thing I knew the floor was no longer firmly under my feet, where I'd always preferred it. Instead, I was falling backward, toward the couch. James landed on top of me, one arm on the couch supporting his weight above me.

All rational thought and judgment flew out of my head. If I thought I was possessed before, I had no idea. I was kissing James back just as fervently, and he began to nibble on my lower lip. It was right then that I melted into a pile of mush- my brain, it seemed, was most affected, and my leg now had a mind of its own. It wrapped itself around James's waist, forcing him even closer to me. A strange sort of moan escaped his lips, and then all too suddenly, he was no longer on the couch.

"Lily, I…we need to stop" he panted, standing above me, his hands in clenched fists at his sides. I blinked.

"wha?" Was the only response I could come up with.

"Because, I…if I don't leave _right now, _I won't be able to."

"I don't want you to leave" I said, pouting. His face became very indecisive, regretful. He stopped looking at me, instead choosing to watch his shoes.

"I just, I have to leave, alright? I'm sorry." He said, only looking up for a moment- perhaps to gauge my reaction- then he was gone. I felt a familiar sting in the corner of my eyes. Standing up, I straightened my skirt and redid the top button of my blouse. I hadn't even noticed he'd undone it! I'd just begun to walk toward the staircase leading to my room when:

"Lily?" I jumped, hearing his voice at the door.

"Hmm?" I responded, not turning around.

"I love you."


	13. A Moment

_Hey guys, I know if anyone's reading this still, they probably hate me. And I am so, so sorry this took me so long. I'm usually slow to update, but that was just ridiculous. My only excuse was how insanely crazy my life has gotten in the past year, and I really hope you haven't forgotten about the story, and that maybe you forgive me and keep reading? I'll love you forever if you do :) _

_Oh, and I still don't own Harry Potter. Fancy that. _

* * *

James hadn't come back to the head dorms last night, and Lily was getting more and more unnerved. Had he not meant what he said? Did he change his mind? How could she look him in the eye again? Or Sirius, for that matter? And was it just her, or was the Great Hall suspiciously quieter today? All of these thought swirled in Lily's mind. She couldn't focus properly on anything else, and as a result had made quite a mess of both her breakfast and her transfiguration test.

Two particularly small Gryffindor first years cut her off on her way to her next class. Their heads were huddled together, but they were speaking loudly enough to eavesdrop on. "I was there! I swear I was!" the first was saying

"Oh yeah, I'm so sure Kevin! There's no way you just happened to be in the common room, at that exact moment" the second responded, skeptically.

"Come on, Karl! Would I lie to you? I was there! I saw the whole thing! I would've never though those two would be at it like that! And the whole fight was over some girl." Lily hoped to hear who they were discussing, but the two first years walked out of hearing range.

Two Gryffindor students had been fighting in the common room? What, are we Slytherins all of a sudden? Lily added finding out who they were to her mental to-do list.

Lily walked over to her desk in and took her usual seat between Alice and Mel, who had already started a conversation.

"I mean, I've never seen them look so angry before!" Alice exclaimed.

"I heard that he broke his nose! I have to know what they were fighting over!"

"Who are you guys talking about?" Lily asked

"James and Sirius, obviously!" Mel look shocked "You mean you haven't heard? They got a huge fight in the common room last night! The yelling woke me up, it was terribly late. I heard Remus got pretty badly hurt just trying to stop them."

_Well, I guess that explained why the four of them aren't sitting anywhere near eachother. That has to be a first _Lily thought to herself.

She knew right away that she was the reason. It was all her fault that the marauders weren't speaking, and had gotten into what sounded like the worst fight they had ever had; entirely her fault that the two closest friends in the whole school weren't even looking at eachother. She was doomed; she was going to be the most hated person at Hogwarts! She decided right then.

Lily Evans would not be the one to break up the Marauders.

* * *

Remus generally knew which side to pick in an argument. He could look at it objectively; see which of his friends was in the wrong.

But in this case, he couldn't.

Sirius was completely ridiculous to go after Lily in the first place. What the hell had he thinking! How could he betray James like that, when he could have had any other girl in the school?

And James! He went and betrayed Sirius right back! What was _he _thinking, snogging his best friends' girlfriend! Even if he felt he had some prior claim to her, that was a blatant infringement on Marauder Code.

The indisputably worst part of the entire situation was that he could justify both of them. Knowing James and Sirius as well as he did, he understood why they acted so outrageously.

The only one whose actions he couldn't justify was Lily.

And based on her face as she bolted out of the classroom, she couldn't either.

* * *

"Lily, you can't just- just quit without explaining! You owe me that, at least!"

"What needs explaining, James? I would've thought it was all very clear" she whispered hoarsely, on the edge of tears. She was facing away from him, toward the door of their dorm, as if at any moment he could blink and she would disappear through it.

"You need to tell me why you're doing this." He stepped closer to her, but she wouldn't turn to face him. "Lily, please."

"What happened yesterday, it was nothing. It was just…a moment." She said with a tone of finality.

"…a moment? What the hell does that mean?"

"A moment. A lapse in judgment. Something that was fun while at the time, but it can't last." She paused. "James, it won't last. Moments never do." She said wistfully, the tears now streaming down her face. James took a few steps toward the door. Just as he was about to reach it, he spun around almost angrily.

"What if it could?"

Lily was clearly not expecting him to have a response. "What?"

"What if I told you I could make it last?"

Lily laughed humorlessly. "You haven't been listen-" she was cut off as James caught her mouth in a searing kiss. After a moment he pulled away, resting his hands on her waist. He bent his head, and whispered in her ear "I love you, Lily. You have to trust me."

She sighed "I think I might. But you have to understand how much that scares me."

"You don't have to be afraid, Lily. I won't hurt you."

"You can't promise that! You can't promise you won't leave me."

"I won't leave you" he said fiercely.

"What if you had to? What if something happened?" James understood that Lily was thinking of her parents.

"I can't promise I won't get hurt, that I won't die, Lils. This is where the 'I love you' part gets real important. You have to take a risk."

"I don't know that I can."

"You're gonna have to. Because there's no way in hell I'm letting you walk away from this; from us."

"What 'us'? James, up until two days ago, I couldn't stand you!"

"Ah, that may be true." He smiled "But I've been in love with you for years. That seems like a nice, strong base for a relationship. Also, there won't be any surprises, as I know quite possibly all there is to know about you."

Lily rolled her eyes "Well, that's just-"

"I know you like only jam on your toast, never butter. I know you tap your feet on the floor when you're anxious or nervous. I know you sometimes laugh in your sleep, which I didn't even think was possible." He laughed.

"James, I…" perhaps for the first time ever, Lily was speechless.

"I know you didn't and you never will feel as strongly about Sirius as you do about me. I know that I've never felt about anyone the way I do about you"

"Well, this is just getting ridiculous. And a little cheesy" She tried to play it off, but he didn't buy it. She knew he was right.

"So, will you risk it?" he asked, his joking manner gone. "Is it worth it, Lily?" She closed her eyes tightly, and James feared the worst. Taking a deep breath, she answered…


	14. That's It

_I tried really hard to update this as fast as I could. Please review, whether you love it or can't stand it, or if you just feel like yelling at me for taking so long to get back to this (before the last chapter)_

_And I still don't own HP, however much I would like to._

* * *

**Chasing Lily-Flower**

**Chapter Fourteen : That's It**

James's POV:

I couldn't tear my gaze away from her face. If I looked away for a single second, I wouldn't have been able to breathe.  
A single tear dripped down her cheek,

"I can't"

Two words that hit me like bullets. I had nothing left to say, the word "No" wrenched itself from my lips. My knees felt as though they had dissolved completely, and I was sure I would topple to the ground any second.

"Not yet." Her sweet, quiet voice whispered brokenly

"What?" I said, probably much too loudly. "Why not?" I couldn't understand what she was feeling, or why she was doing this. My confusion made me furious, though I didn't _want_ to be mad at her. I could barely hear her over the words screaming in my head when she said,

"I need to talk to Sirius. I can't be with you if I know it will make him hate you. And I know you won't be you if you're not talking to him, either."

This made sense, on one level. But on another level it made much, much more sense to forget that Sirius existed and just grab Lily and run.

"Just, wait for me here" she asked. My head nodded of its own accord. Waiting, then. That shouldn't be too difficult. Probably.

* * *

Remus's POV

"Would you please just go to the hospital wing to get your nose looked at?" I pleaded for the thousandth time "That ice is melting all over."

"Look, I'm finb, all righ? Wo you jus fix it please?" Sirius looked miserable, his eye black and his upper lip stained with blood. He had refused to leave the dorm so nobody would see him looking like this (as James had put it, 'like the prat he is') and now, apparently, he didn't want to go to the nurse to get his nose fixed. He was even sounding particularly moronic, as he was having difficulty with most consonant sounds.

"I _could _fix it for you, Padfoot, but what would you _learn_ that way?" To be honest, Sirius probably could have done a lot better in an actual duel against James, but he had very little experience physically fighting anyone, and he had lost quiet miserably in the common room brawl last night, in front of everyone. He had tried to pretend after to me and Peter that it hadn't bothered him, that he had let James win. My morning, almost everyone there knew what they had been fighting about, though Sirius had not said a word about it since.

"Why don't you just-" I started, but stopped after hearing the loud, thudding foot steps could be heard coming up the stairs very quickly. "Who…?"

"Oh, my God, Sirius!" Gasped Lily, who happened to look very out of breath. "What happ- are you all- here, let me-" Her sentences jumped, before she rushed over to beside where Padfoot was sitting. She put a hand on his arm, and used the other to grab her wand. "Episkey!" His nose made a soft noise as it was set back into place. "Tergeo" and the dried blood was gone.

"You and James are ruddy idiots!" She exclaimed angrily, while still holding her hand on his arm. He looked down at her hand, and she removed it quickly. I couldn't help but feel that didn't bode well for his chances.

"Well, I'll be downstairs, if anyone needs me" I made my hasty retreat to the Common Room.

* * *

Lily's POV:

It had taken me forever to make it to the boy's dorm. I must have turned back indecisively twelve times on the way here. By the time I made it past the portrait, I ran past my classmates and took the stairs two at a time, leaving my self as little opportunity as possible to change my mind again. Now, as I watched Remus turn and walk down those same steps, I had to stop myself from calling him back. I didn't want to be here, doing this.  
I couldn't hurt Sirius like this, it was unfair.

At the same time, I couldn't not tell him. I squeezed my eyes shut and bit back tears for what felt like the millionth time that week. I never used to cry this much; it sucks what these boys can do to you.

"Sirius, I-"

"Look, Lily…I know. You've been James's all along." He said this with a forced bravado, he wasn't meeting my eyes. "I've just been too stupid to see it. It's all my fault. I just hope James can forgive me; but you deserve to be with him, really."

Sirius hated to let anyone see him in pain. He had the super-human persona; he was larger than life because he needed to be, and no matter how much pain he was in, he wouldn't let that wall break.

While I was glad he was making this much easier for me, I was also hurting badly. I hated causing Sirius this pain, because despite the jokes that Mel or Alice made about it, I really did care for him.

"Alright, well, I guess this is it then." I said quietly "I want you to know, though, I never meant for any of this to happen. I don't like seeing you and James fighting; and for what it's worth, I never wanted to hurt you."

He simply nodded. Meeting my eyes for the first time, he said "All right, well, I was just thinking how I fancied a walk around the Lake, so if you don't mind…" He stood up slowly, but walked briskly toward the door, not wanting to spend a second longer than he had to here. True to form, Sirius didn't want to let anyone see his vulnerability.

He stopped just before he reached the doorway, "Be seeing you" he added, and nodded slowly again, almost reassuring himself of something. He turned and finally left the room, leaving me there alone with my thoughts for company.

* * *

Sirius's POV

It took me quiet a bit of walking to finally get my head clear. My mind wasn't quite done turning itself round and round in regret, but at least it was getting easier to tell myself I was fine, which should mean that being fine was right around the corner.

I knew I would have to talk to James and work things out eventually, but I just didn't feel quite up to facing his gloating smile, or worse, his pity. I decided instead that I would just head back inside to find Remus or Peter and take them to Hogsmeade and get sloshed and the Hog's Head. Tom could be trusted not to judge you or your problems, and just hand you your drink. It would be the best place to spend the evening. Perhaps even the next few evenings.


End file.
